NZ's McCully worried draft copies of Fiji's constitution and burned

New Zealand's foreign minister is concerned some draft copies of the constitution in Fiji have been banned and burned.

In defiance of the ban, the Fiji Constitution Commission has begun distributing the draft version of the constitution, which was commissioned by the interim government and produced over several months with financial support from New Zealand.

Last week, copies of it were confiscated and burned by police.

Murray McCully says there needs to be a constitution in place so that proposed elections in 2014 go ahead with international support.

"There needs to be at the end of the day a constitutional process that is going to stand up to international scrutiny and an election that is going to stand up to scrutiny and then the military need to accept the results of that election and that means they have to go back to the barracks and perform the normal role play in a democratic society."

Murray McCully says he is in close contact with his Fiji counterparts, and will monitor the situation.